Shuttle mechanism for ring shuttle sewing machines



Dec. 5, 1939. SCHENZlNGER 2,181,951

SHUTTLE MECHANISM FOR RING SHUTTLE SEWING MACHINES' Filed June 17, 19363 Sheets-Sheet l Dec. 5, 1939. A. SCHENZINGER SHUTTLE MECHANISM FOR RINGSHUTTLE SEWING MACHINES Filed June 17, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 5,1939. scHENZlNGER 2,181,951 Y SHUTTLE MECHANISM FOR RING SHUTTLE SEWINGMACHINES Filed June 1'7, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Dec. 5, 1939UNITED STATES SHUTTLE IWECHANISM FOR RING SHUTTLE SEWING MAGHDJES AugustSchenzinger, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application June 17, 1936, Serial No. 85,740

8 Claims.

spools carrying about 200 yards of yarn and more may be used. Anotherobject of the invention is to provide an improved shuttle mechanism, in15 which the removal of an emptied yarn spool and the insertion of a newfull spool can be carried out in a quick and most simple manner withouttaking the shuttle out of the shuttle carrier ring.

Still another object of the invention is to provide 20 arrangements, bywhich the tension of the thread going from the spool to the seam formingmechanism in the machine can be regulated without dismounting any partsof the shuttle mechanism, so that the machine operator, by using suchsimple tool as an ordinary screw driver may re-set the tension of thethread to adapt it to the nature of the sewing work to be done.

In the means, which I have devised for carrying out the beforesaid andother objects of the invention, it is a most important feature, that mynew and improved shuttle mechanism may be put into any old sewingmachine of the ordinary standard types, for instance Singer or White; norebuilding or alteration of the old machine is 35 necessary; and theexchange of an old shuttle mechanism against my new one may be donewithin a few minutes time, as in certain standard sewing machines, suchas for instance the Singer, only two screws are to be unscrewed and tobe screwed on again, in order to carry out the exchange of the twoshuttle mechanisms.

In order to make clear the nature of the present invention, I have shownin the drawings a preferred embodiment of my new and improved shuttlemechanism, such as would fit for instance into the normal Singer sewingmachine. In the illustrations of the shown embodiment:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the device, show- 50 ing the newimproved shuttle and the parts contained therein;

Figure 2 is a top view of the device seen in the direction of the arrows22 in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a bottom view of the device, seen in 55. the direction ofthe arrows 33 in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a side view of the device, seen in the direction of thearrows L4 in Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a front elevation of the new improved shuttle alone;

Figure 6 is a bottom View of the shuttle alone; 5

Figure '7 is a side view of the new improved spool housing, to beinserted into the shuttle of Figs. 5 and 6;

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the new improved spool housing; 7 V

Figures 9 and 9a show the thread-tensioning plate to be fixed on thespool-housing, Figure 9 being a perspective view, and Figure 9a being aside-view, seen from the right side of Figure 9;

Figures 10 and 11 are front elevations of the the essential parts of thedevice in its position as (not shown) parts of the sewing machine, the

construction and operation of which parts is as usual. The shuttle of mynew device is likewise similar to the standard Singer machine, in sofar, as it forms an approximately sickle-shaped casing (as shown inFigure 5) with the face-wall 33 and 35. the rear-wall 33 only partlydeveloped, with a circumferential guiding rib 2'5, which extends fromthe shuttle tail-end 28 to the head-end 29, which in the usual manner isprovided on its one side with slight slantings I 29 to let pass theneedle, and which is further provided with the loop-picking beak 3B, andthe loop-spreading shoulders 3!, between which latter the usual broadslanting ditch 32 is arranged, through which the needle reciprocates.The shuttle of my device differs however from the usual ring shuttles ofthe same type, in that point, that my shuttle is very much broader thanall the known other shuttles of the same diameter, the greater breadthofmy shuttle being necessary, in order to provide in it enough room for acorrespondingly broad spool housing and yarn spool. In my new device theratio of the breadth of the spool to the diameter of the spool isapproximately 2:3; and in a similar manner the ratio of my spooldiameter to my shuttle diameter amounts to 2:3, whereas in the usualSinger machine of the same type the ratio of the spool breadth to thespool diameter is only 1:2, and the ratio of the spool diameter to theshuttle diameter is likewise only 1:2. The use of such larger andbroader spools in my machines as compared to Singer and other machinesof the same size accounts for the considerably greater length of threadin my machine;

but the use of such larger and broader spools in my machine is madepossible only by the excentric position of my spool in its shuttle, andby the different shape of the shuttle side-walls, which are adapted tothe changed position of the spool.

The one face-wall of my shuttle, in the Figure 5 it is the rearface-wall, 33', is provided with a pin 3 having a shoulder at itsbottom, which pin extends perpendicularly to the said shuttle wall intothe interior of the shuttle, and

serves as the carrier of the central sleeve 35 of the spool housing 35,the outer cylindrical wall of this spool housing being likewise carriedby machined border ledges 3'7 (see Figs. 4, 6 and 12) provided at theinterior cavity of the shuttle.-

The rather large and broad but otherwise normal-' shaped yarn-spool 38of pressed sheet metal or any other suitable material rides loosely onthe central sleeve 35 of the housing 36, so as to allow the gradualturning of the spool and the unwinding of the yarn from it, while thespool housing 36 itself keeps always the same position within theshuttle, to which it is fixed.

In order to lock the spool housing within the shuttle, the spool housing36 has, as shown in the Figs. 3 and 7, at 39 pivoted to it, a twoarmedlever M, the shorter arm of which forms a hook il, adapted to catchbelow a little pin 32 (see Figs. 3 and 5), arranged within the shuttlenear to its tail end. The lever 10 is slightly curved, to fit snugly onthe cylindrical circumference of the spool housing 36, and the longerarm of the lever is at its rim provided with a groove or slightdepression 43, to serve as a grip for the fingernail, when the lock isto be opened; the end of the longer arm of the lever id is furtherprovided with a resilient hook-shaped tongue 46, which catches in thelocking position of the arm into the groove 45, which extends alonginside of the shuttle below the guiding rib 21, as shown in the Figure3. When however the lever 40 is swung up into the position shown in theFigure '7, then this lever serves as a convenient handle, for pullingthe spool housing 36 with the spool 33 out of the shuttle.

The comparatively large size and breadth of the spool and of the spoolhousing requires special arrangements for conducting the thread from theyarn spool 38 to the place at the table plate 24 where the seam is to bemade in the workpiece, which arrangements, seen best in the Figures 8and 10 to 12, are as follows: In the cylindrical wall ll of the spoolhousing a slot 46 extends from the open side of the spool housingobliquely over a part of the cylindrical wall 41 of the housing, andfrom the widened end 48 of this slot extends a flat groove 49 in thesame oblique direction as the slot it over the rest of the cylindricalwall t! up to the rounded edge 50, in which the cylindrical wall t?joins to the face wall 35. At the point of edge 58, where the groove 49ends, starts another flat groove 5|, which extends on the face wall 36of the spool housing to a point 52, which in the assembled shuttlearrangement is situated in the axis of the shuttle carrier ring 2| (seeFigs. 10 and 11).

The surface of the face wall 36 is further provided with a slightlyslanting depression 53, which, as a broadening zone, extends from themeeting point of the two grooves 49 and 51 across the whole face wall36, the purpose of this de pression being to facilitate the threading ofthe shuttle mechanism, because the thread, in passing over the face wall36, must be brought into the narrow space between the face wall 36 andthe thread-tensioning plate 55.

At the meeting point of the two thread guiding grooves 49 and 5! extendsa small pin 56 slightly above the rounded edge 58, which pin preventsthe yarn thread from jumping out of the two grooves 49, 5! inconsequence of the movements of the yarn housing, when the latterrotates with the shuttle.

The thread tensioning device consists in an irregularly shaped thin andelastic plate 55, see Figure 9, which plate has three flaps 56, 51, 58,and a countersunk hole 593 for the screw 69, which screwserves at thesame time for fixing the plate 55 to the face wall 35 of the spoolhousing, and for regulating the tension of the thread. In Figures 9 and9a the dotted lines 5! indicate the imaginary flat plane of the plate 55the contour of which flat plane in the perspective View of the Figure 9takes the shape of a partial ellipse; the flap 5t and the adjoining partof the plate 55 near to the hole 59 are bent upwardly from this flatimaginary plane 68, but the extreme end of this flap 56 is again bentdown slightly; the flap 5?, in particular its pointed or sharp corneredend, is bent downwardlybelow the imaginary fiat plane 6i the narrow slotbetween the two iiaps 56 and 51 is at its inner end 52 somewhat roundedup, which arrangement, in combination with the before described shape oftheiiap 56 serves to keep the thread at its turning point '52,

after the thread is once threaded-in below the tensioning plate 55. Therounded lower part of the flap 5'2 and likewise the extreme end of thethird flap 58 are provided each with a small pointed hook 652, whichhooks catch into corresponding notches in the surface of the face wall Idii of the spool housing. In view of the just de-' corresponding changeof the pressure between the plate 55 and the face wall 35, which resultsin a corresponding other tension of the yarn thread,

which passes between these two parts.

The before described construction results in the following very simpleway of rethreading and operating of my new and improved shuttlemechanism:

A spool housing with the locking lever held raised or swung out as shownin the Figure 7 is charged with. a new full yarnspool, and the end ofthe yarnthread is passed through the slot 46 from the inside to theoutside of the spool housing. Then the spool housing, held at theswung-out lever id, is inserted into the shuttle which is turned intothe position of the Figures 5 and 6, so that the locking lever is placedwithin the tail end of the shuttle, and the locking lever is presseddown into the inner groove 45 of the shuttle, which movement locks thespool-housing in this position. Thereupon the end of the yarnthread isplaced into the circumferential groove 49 of the spool housing, and bypressing it slightly on the face wall 36 the thread is swung round thepin 5 for the angle corresponding to the slanting depression 53, whichmovement brings the thread below the higher part of the tensioning plate55 and into the slot between the flaps 56 and W, to reach the point 52.Thereupon the threaded shuttle is inserted into the shuttle carrier ringand the end of the thread is pulled up to the pas-- sage hole in thetable plate 24, and the machine will be ready to start with the sewingwork. When, after using up the thread on the yarnspool, the shuttlemechanism shall be re-filled, then the shuttle may be left within thecarrier ring; it is only necessary to reach with a fingernail into thegroove =33 of the lever M, to raise this lever again to the position ofFigure '7, whereupon the spool housing with the spool can be pulled outof the shuttle, which remains within the shuttle carrier ring. The spoolhousing may then be re-filled, placed again into the shuttle and locked,and the end of the new thread is on the assembled shuttle mechanismbrought up to the table-plate, to continue the sewing work.

It is evident that the invention is not restricted to the details of thebefore described construction, but may be varied within the scope of thefollowing claims.

I. claim:

1. A ring shuttle mechanism for sewing machines, comprising a carrierring; a shuttle rotatable within the ring and having on its inside along concentric groove and a protrusion at the one side of this groovenear to its end; a spoolhousing removably inserted into the shuttle; ayarn spool arranged exchangeably and rotatable within the said housing;and locking means for removably fixing the said spool housing within theshuttle, said locking means consisting in a double-armed lever pivotedat the peripheric circumference of the spool housing, the shorter arm ofwhich lever has the shape of a hook, adapted to engage the before saidprotrusion, and the longer arm of which lever is provided with aresilient tongue adapted to engage into the before said inner groove ofthe shuttle.

2. A ring shuttle mechanism for sewing machines, comprising a carrierring; a shuttle mounted rotatably within the ring; a one-side open spoolhousing having a cylindrical wall and an adjoining face wall, insertedexcentrically and 1 removably into the shuttle, the said spool housinghaving a slot in its cylindrical wall extending from the open side ofthe housing over a part of the cylindrical wall, and having further incon-- tinuation of the slot a slight groove on the outside of thecylindrical wall, and another slight groove on the face wall extendingfrom the end of the first said groove to a point near the axis of theshuttle ring.

3. A ring shuttle mechanism for sewing machines, as claimed in claim 2,in which the spool housing carries outside on its face wall athreadholding flat plate having a narrow slot, the inner end of which issituated at a point near the axis of the shuttle.

4. A ring shuttle mechanism for sewing machines, as claimed in claim 2,in which the face wall of the spool housing is provided, on its outersurface, with a slightly slanting depression, extending from the meetingpoint of the two thread conducting grooves in a broadening zone acrossthe face wall of the housing.

5. A ring shuttle mechanism for sewing machines, as claimed in claim 2,in which the spool housing is provided, at the meeting point of the twothread conducting grooves, with a small pinlike protrusion, adapted toprevent during the rotation of the shuttle, the yarn thread fromslipping out of the said conducting grooves.

6. A ring shuttle mechanism for sewing ma chines, comprising: a carrierring; a. shuttle rotatable within the-ring and having on its inside along concentric groove; a spool-housing re movably inserted into theshuttle; a yarn spool arranged exchangeably and rotatable within thesaid housing; and an arm, pivoted at the outside of the cylindrical wallor peripheric circumference of the spool housing, so as to be adapted tobe swung out of the shuttle to serve as a handle for the spoolhousing,'or to be swung close to the shuttle and to engage into theinner groove of the shuttle, to lock the spool housing within theshuttle.

7. A ring shuttle mechanism for sewing machines, comprising: a carrierring; a shuttle mounted rotatable within the ring; a pin fixedexcentrically within the shuttle; a one-side-closed cylindrical spoolhousing, inserted excentrically into the shuttle and riding on thebeforesaid pin, so as to be rotatable together with the shuttle; lockingmeans for fixing the spool housing within the shuttle for joint movementof the spool housing together with the shuttle; a yarn spool insertedindependently rotatable within the spool housing; and thread-conductingmeans on the outer circumference and on the outer surface of the sidewall of the spool housing, to conduct the thread from the yarnspool overthe outer surface of the housing to a point situated near the axis ofthe shuttle ring.

8. A ring shuttle mechanism for sewing machines, comprising: a carrierring; a shuttle rotatably mounted within the ring; a cylindrical spoolhousing, detachably fixed within the shuttle and being closed at its oneside by an approximately fiat wall; a yarn spool within the spoolhousing; a thread-holding and -tension.ing plate, hooked at two pointsinto the face wall of the spool housing, and resting at a third point onthe outer surface of the face wall of the spool housing; and a set screwengaging the said plate and the said face wall of the spool housing soas to regulate the pressure between the plate and the face wall.

AUGUST SCHENZINGER.

